Windows 7

December, 2009

Update: Just realized that I haven't updated this page for nearly a year. ;-)

I moved from Windows 7 Beta to RC1 last summer, bought a couple of copies of RTM (final version) when they cost $50, bought a new computer in November, and upgraded an old PC and the club's laptop to Windows 7 too. Everything has been going very well.

I also put some (I hope) helpful information online too: Notes for my 7 Secrets of Windows 7 presentation series, and clippings on upgrading and moving to Windows 7 are now there.

February, 2009

Update: I've been using the beta release of Windows 7 full time. :-)

It's most likely that Windows 7 will be available around September, 2009. The current beta release is getting enthuiastic reviews. I'm eagerly waiting to leapfrog Vista and go from Windows XP to 7. Those of you who are already using Vista should have little or no trouble moving to Windows 7. One flap has come up though.

Microsoft is arguing that a problem that testers have found with User Access Control (UAC) is not a problem. It plainly is, but it's not a fatal flaw, or even close. Not if you run Windows 7 the way any security conscious user would, namely as a "Standard User", not as an "Administrator". You can likely manage Windows 7 security the same way you would manage "Security with Vista". That's not how Windows 7 is set up "at the factory" however. You need to change it yourself.

Update: Microsoft has agreed that it's a problem and will change Windows 7 to protect UAC.

January, 2009

Time has been kind to Windows Vista. Many XP programs have finally been rewritten for Vista, manufacturers have updated hardware drivers, and Microsoft has fixed some problems with their SP1 update. Most people now get along happily with Vista. I'm waiting for Windows 7 though, and I'll buy a couple of new computers when it's available.

It looks as if Windows 7 will be what Microsoft wishes Vista had been, along with some nice improvements. Lifehacker and PC World have early looks at the pre-beta release of Windows 7, and Slate reviewed a leaked copy of the first beta version.

November, 2008
The buzz about Vista's successor -- now called Windows 7 -- has already begun. Todd Bishop has an early Windows 7 synopsis. Andy Patrizio, at internetnews.com and Mary Jo Foley have some early breaking news on the release date for Windows 7. [here] [and here]

I have various collections of Windows 7 items scattered around the Internet. More evidence of a misspent retirement. :-)

  1. My Google Notebook, with annotated clips (and links) from some of the most informative Internet articles that I've found.
  2. My Delicious.com Windows 7 tag includes items from the notebook, plus others, and is frequently updated. [feed]
  3. My Google Reader tag has even more frequently updated excerpts. [feed]
June, 2008

I'm starting too early, but it will be interesting to see what my thoughts were as Microsoft moved toward the next version of Windows.

Microsoft has never been coy about the fact that there will be a new version of Windows to follow Vista. Duh! In the past, they've been very secretive about code names for the next version, and even if there was a new version in development. This is a change, but they're still doing all they can to "manage expectations."

Microsoft's official position is that the next version of Windows after Vista will be released in early 2010. They still want to sell more Vista. I think they're hoping like hell it can be October 2009 to catch the holiday season. I'm back to the opinion that it will turn out to be late summer of 2010.

They're in a real bind right now. Vista has generally been a flop for them (although it's not at all that bad). People are staying away in droves, particularly businesses, largely because of the bad press that Vista has gotten. To some extent it has been deserved because they didn't pay enough attention to the eco-system that Vista would be a part of as soon as it was released. The result was that many customers, including me, are skipping Vista and waiting for the next version of Windows.

It's most likely that the next version will eventually be dubbed Vista 2.0. Not by Microsoft, but because the world knows that's what it is. Sort of like when Windows XP replaced Windows Me. ;>)